Taylor Wimpey returns to profit

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey swung to a first-half profit and said trading is satisfactory.

The company kicked off first-half results from British housebuilders by posting a pretax profit before exceptional items of £19.6m, compared with a loss of £68.9m in the same period last year.

After exceptional items, its profit reduced for the six months to £7.5m.

It also announced a material improvement in operating margins.

"Although wider economic uncertainty remains, current trading is satisfactory and our forward order books and cautious approach to land valuation provide protection against downside scenarios," said the group in a statement.

House price growth has stalled in recent months, with a 0.6 per cent drop in June, the third successive monthly fall, according to mortgage lender Halifax.